Aircraft are often used for transporting both cargo and personnel. Seats must be installed for transporting personnel and removed for transporting cargo.
Seats in the aircraft are secured by track fittings to tracks mounted in the floor of the aircraft. One such fitting, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,969 entitled "LEG SET TRACK FITTING," is commercially available from Sabre Industries, Inc. of Burbank, Calif. The fitting has a generally circular head section which pivots about a horizontal axis relative to one end of a finger which extends into the groove in a track such that the head is movable into openings in the track to prevent movement of the fitting longitudinally of the track. The fitting is also provided with a yoke configured to straddle the finger and extend into openings in the track.
For removing a seat equipped with track fittings of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,969, a tool is required for disengaging the head section of the fitting from openings in the track and a screwdriver is required for disengaging the yoke section from the track.
Often, a different track fitting, for example, of the type commercially available from Ancra Corporation of El Segundo, Calif., and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,424 entitled "RATTLE PROOF ANCHOR FITTING FOR SECURING LOADS TO A RETAINER TRACK", may be employed for securing a front or foreleg of a seat to a track while a fitting of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,969 is employed for securing the rear or aft leg to the track. This fitting may require a third tool for installing and removing a seat.
Other track fittings are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,189,313; 3,620,171; 3,652,050; 3,677,195; 3,810,534; 4,026,218; 4.062,298; 4,109,891; 4,114,947; 4,396,175; 4,493,470; 4,509,888; 4,688,843; 4,708,549; 4,718,719 and 4,911,381.
Installing and removing seats using track fittings which require the use of tools of the type hereinbefore described may require between ten and fifteen minutes for each seat. Several manhours of labor are required for converting the aircraft, which has been used for transporting cargo, for transporting personnel.
The heavy seats, which may weigh about one hundred (100) pounds or more, are sometimes handled roughly which results in damaging the track fittings and the tracks.
Further, the requirement that several tools be employed for installing or removing seats is undesirable.
A long felt need exists for track fittings which permit installation and removal of seats much more quickly than can be accomplished using track fittings of the type heretofore devised.